Is Your Salvation Genuine? - 1 John

0:46It's like, hey, brothers and sisters, how are you? And it's just sweet to be with you. This really feels like home. And Mikey and T have been so gracious to let us stay in their home, to invite us to be here. And when they sent us the text of your loss, we were grieved from afar. Such a tragic, wicked, evil thing. And we can only imagine how you must feel being this close. Perhaps friends, perhaps relatives grieving over the tragic death of Clay Robinson. And it caused me to pause and ask the question: perhaps I should reconsider the message that I had already prepared for you. And I pondered it long and hard, and I ultimately. Concluded, no, I think this is perhaps exactly the right message. It's perhaps not a message of comfort, but I believe that this would be the type of message, especially this day, more than anybody sitting here, Clay Robinson, would like to have proclaimed. He is in the presence of the King. And more than ever, He would want you to be there. He would like you to know the joys that He is currently experiencing. He would like you to know the delights that He is partaking of with our Master. And so I've decided to preach the very same message that I had prepared because this is a straightforward plea: Do not let the gates be closed on you.

2:22Clay would not want you to be shut out of the kingdom. He would want you to hear the glorious good news, repent, believe this amazing Savior, have your sins forgiven, and then join the throngs who will gather around the throne singing hallelujahs forever. And so, the message that I prepared for you is a bit of a tough one, but there's a reason that I decided to prepare this, even in a sound Bible teaching church. And Tom, I'm very grateful for that. I'm just a shout-out to the local shepherd. I have to tell you, it's very easy to think that.

3:00Perhaps national ministries or parachurch ministries or media ministries. That's kind of the high-profile stuff. I'm here to tell you the local church and the local shepherd is absolutely where it is at. It is God's only ordained means of feeding the sheep. We serve a role at the feet of the local church because this is where the labor truly happens. This is God's context for the growth of the sheep. And I bring this message for two reasons, really. Number one, if anybody knows about the subject of false converts, it is I. Because I was the chief of false converts. I studied to be a pastor, forgot one thing, I didn't get saved first. That's not a good way to enter ministry. Nevertheless, I studied about Jesus during the day, lived like a devil at night, and you cannot persuade me that I was in the sheepfold. I was a pride-filled, arrogant, self-righteous, Pharisaical goat. And I was professing Jesus Christ. And if you disagreed with my theology, I thought you were hellbound. That's how obnoxious I was in my religiosity. I was not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the second reason I'd like to bring this message to you today is because that is precisely John's concern in 1 John. If you go to the very end of 1 John, you're given the purpose statement of the preceding five chapters. I write these things that you might know. You are saved. Well, that's fascinating. So, what do those five chapters have for us? I have called for you a ten-point test from the book of 1 John. Repeatedly, John gives us if statements: if you're like this, then you're this. If you're like this, you're like this. And he gives us ten markers of the true convert, precisely what Jesus warned about. There would be true converts, false converts, wise virgins, foolish virgins, wheat, tares, good fish, and rotten fish. John doesn't want you to be a rotten fish. He wants to do what we are commanded to do in 2 Corinthians, to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. So, that's what we're going to do right now. Please do not write your answers down. No elbowing. You did not pass your paper to the front of the class. This is between you and God. A 10-point test to see if you are in the faith. And so, this is 1 John 1, verses 6 through 7. Correct friends. The true Christian has correct friends. If we say we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie. Do you hear it? And do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. Christians like to hang with Christians. This might especially be a message for you, young person. Who are your friends? It's not just your parents who tell you to choose your friends wisely. It's the book of Proverbs. It's true. You're hanging out is indicative of who you are. If you don't like hanging out with Christians because they're kind of geeky and weird, they're not the problem. You are. We like Christians, not because we hang out and we have some things in common. You like golf, you like football, you like whatever the issue is, it's because we have Christ as the centerpiece. That's what makes a friendship, because that is what a true believer delights in, having fellowship with the brethren because we have the most important thing in common. That's test number one. Test number two, 1 John 1:8 through 9, correct anthropology, correct anthropology. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. You understand who you are, sinner. And this isn't just, okay, hiccups, boo-boos, I make mistakes. No, no, this is an understanding to the core. I am a depraved human being. There is nothing in and of myself that is good. And even the good things that I appear to do before men are offered to God from dirty, sinful, stained hands that are not pleasing in his sight. The true Christian increasingly understands the depravity of his or her sin.

7:17Do you know that you're a sinner to that depth? Test number three. 1 John 2:3 through 6. Correct direction. Correct direction. By this, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him, the love of God truly has been perfected. By this, we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he has walked. The Christian is on that perpetual path of sanctification. No, it is not perfection. It's more like the stock market, at least these days. You know, it progressively goes up. Yep, we stumble, we fall, but when we stumble, we hate it. And we get back up as a repentant believer, and we strive to obey the commandments. His commandments are not burdensome. To the antinomians who would say, whoa, whoa, whoa, back off with the legalism, I think John would say to you, whoa, whoa, whoa. Why don't you love God's law? Why don't you delight in God's law? It no longer has authority over us, but we delight in keeping his statutes, saying no to the things he hates. That's the sign of a true believer. Test number four, 1 John 2:15-16. Correct passions.

8:45Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. The world has nice things for us to enjoy: air conditioning, this building, chairs. Had some lovely food, you can drive a car, you can live in a home and enjoy all of those things. That's not what John is after. He's saying, those things are your idols. You love those things. I must have this or I die. I'll be miserable unless I have the fill-in-the-blank. The things of this world are here for us to enjoy. And by the way, just a shout-out to the people who love to worship the mother. This planet is here for us. Now, we're good stewards. We take care of God's creation, but if it takes some dings and some hits so that we can subdue it and enjoy it, then so be it, because the priority here is people, then planet. Nevertheless, the things that God has provided for us to enjoy, they're good to enjoy, understanding that they come from the Father of lights. They are from Him, so we enjoy Him because He has given us this gift. But when your heart is turned toward the gift and not the giver, John says you're going to get neither. We love God, not stuff. And anything that effectively becomes our idol is not pleasing to God. And if it is persistent in the life of the professing Christian, John says you better rethink some things.

10:15Test number seven. Nope, I'm sorry. Test number five. Test number five. Test number seven's a beating, I warn you. Test number five, it is. Correct courage. 1 John 2, 23. Whoever denies the Son, does not deny the den. Not have the father. The one who confesses the son has the father also. Now, I'm fully aware that this is directly about correct Christology, understanding who Jesus is. Nevertheless, I think that we can apply this to evangelism. Do you ever panic? Do you ever blanch from witnessing, sharing your faith because it's embarrassing? You might be perceived as being a weirdo. What might they think? What might this cost? I think we can apply this text and say, are you sure that you're in the faith? Because if we are ashamed of Jesus, he tells us, I'm going to be ashamed of you on the day of judgment. Now, I get it. Evangelizing, it's an irksome task. It's scary business. I know that full well. Nevertheless, if we are in Him, we will overcome our fears and we will leave this place and we will bring the good news to the world regardless of what they do to us. And it looks like they will be doing things to us. Test number six: correct longings. Correct longings. 1 John 3, verse 2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we'll be like him, because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself. In other words, When you are longing for Jesus, you purify yourself. In other words, when you are looking forward to his return or to be with him in heaven, you're a Christian. What are your longings? Do you look forward to being with the Savior? John wants us to examine ourselves. Are you holding on to the things of this world, or do you long to be with your master who purchased you? The heart of the Christian has longings that say, Come, Lord Jesus. And even although we don't certainly become bleak, we certainly don't take our own lives. I'm looking forward to dying. I want that day. I love my wife. I love my children. The dog, honestly, it depends on the day, frankly.

12:44But I love those things, but I want to go home. That's the heart of the believer. Test number seven. Here it comes. Correct living. Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. And this is a good translation. The one who practices sin is of the devil. If you keep on sinning, you're of the devil. Greek tense, very important. It's not if you sin, Christians sin. We are simulustus at Pekator, said the reformers. We're simultaneously justified, yet sinning. We are seen as righteous. We're credited with righteousness, but we are not yet glorified. So, the true believer sins, but the true believer doesn't like it. The true believer doesn't plan it. The true believer doesn't plot it, carry it out, wake up the next day, wash, rinse, repeat without any concerns. If you keep on sinning, you are of the devil. Now, this can be tricky. I grant you that, and I truly do encourage you to work directly with your pastor on this. But if there is an ongoing sin in your life, this should terrify you. If you have got a sin that has mastery over you, it's not a definitive sign that you are outside of the kingdom, but it could be. And you should be sobered by this. Do you have a pet sin? What is it that has a hold of you that you do not mortify on a regular basis? John warns you: you could be of the devil. Told you. Test number eight: 1 John 3:14, correct emotions. Correct emotions. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Okay, so he just dialed it up. Not only do you like Christians, you love the brethren. And it shows through acts of kindness, giving, support, help, serving at the church, doing things for one another. We love the brethren, says John. Test number nine, 1 John 4, 6. Correct authority. Correct authority. We are from God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. If you are of God, you love listening to him. You love listening to preaching. You love listening to your Sunday school teacher. You love the word. You want to be instructed by God. And that's what John says as a test. You obey because you love teaching, because you love him. And finally, test number 10, correct Christology. 1 John 5:1.

15:421 John 5, 1. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. If we did not understand the Son rightly, we did not have the Father either. John heard this very clearly. He wrote a gospel where Jesus was telling the Pharisees, you need to get this right. I am of the Father. If you do not understand that I am fully God, fully man, you do not have the Father. The early church battled over correct Christology, knowing who Jesus Christ is. We got to get this straight too, because theology appears to be important to God. Correct Christology says, fully God, fully man, one body, these two natures, 100%, 100% for my math teachers and chemistry professors. Bad math, good theology. 100%, 100%. They don't mix, they don't mingle. Jesus wasn't a Superman or a demigod. While Jesus was having his diaper changed in a crib, he was upholding the universe by the word of his power. That's the second person of the Trinity. And the Chalcedonian Creed says: if you don't get that right, you're not in the kingdom. The Athanasian Creed warns about this. You have to have your Trinitarian theology correct, and you have to have your Christology correct. Otherwise, you don't believe in God because you don't understand the Son.

17:07So there's the 10-point test. And every time I think about this, I ask the same question that you are right now: What's the curve? Right? Did you pass? I didn't pass. Does that mean if you only got a 90, you're out? Here's the answer to what's the passing score. I don't know. And John doesn't tell us. And clearly, that's by design. This is in here to cause us to say, how am I doing? Am I really walking with God? What are my affections? What is the direction of my life? How do I measure up to this standard? And there's a tension that exists right here. The tension is: the Christian never nails these. You should be better at this this year than you were last year, but we're never fully there. Are we? We're justified fully, but we're not fully sanctified. And at the same time, we're told if you aren't improving, you better question yourself and examine yourself. So, right now, I suspect there might be two groups of people that are sitting here now. And you are either saying to yourself, I think I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian, but wow, I am really not measuring up the way that I would like. That could be one, and I think that's going to be probably the majority of folks here. I think the other group of people are going, not even close. This is a not me. And to that group of people, I would ask you this question: Do you care? Do you care? You see, I believe the Puritans would echo this: that when you are confronted with the recognition that you're not measuring up to God's standard, that you're sinning in a way that is displeasing with God and demonstrating you're not in the kingdom, the false convert says, ho-hum. The true convert, even with the faith of a mustard seed, goes, Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't want that.

19:11I don't want to be outside of the kingdom. It troubles you. If you've ever wrestled with assurance, this should be your comfort. Do you care? The false convert doesn't. The false convert cannot. It is the true convert who's like, I sin, but I don't want to be doing that. I believe that's John's point. But now, understanding that we're all having slightly different reactions to this ten-point test, what can we do about it? Because there could be, at this moment, good fish, rotten fish. And those good fish maybe are going, I want to be a better fish, and those rotten fish maybe don't care. I would like to have us examine three people in the Bible that can fix both people groups, that can change the thinking of both. I want to take a look at two men who were brothers, and then another fellow. These two brothers were rotten fish. They happened to be the half-brother of Jesus Christ. Their names were James and Jude. And they did not believe in their brother. They didn't believe in Jesus Christ. Can you imagine? Actually, if you think about it for a second, it's not hard to imagine your close proximity, living quarters with God in flesh. You would think they would get it, but I suspect because of the fall, what they got was living with the Son of God. Could not have been an easy task. I don't know if any of you have a sibling that was smarter, better, more athletic than you. I had two older brothers. One was really smart. And so when I would come up behind in the school system, and the teacher would go, oh, we've got a freeel. Are you the brother of? And I would go, oh, please say Scott, say Scott. But if they would say, Are you John's little brother? I'd go, oh, no. I'm in big trouble because he was Mr. Straight A. Now imagine following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Being the little brother of perfection. You can imagine the bitterness that was deep inside of them. No matter what they did, they didn't measure up. It's like, hey, mom, Dad, I got an A at Temple. That's nice, dear. Your son just fed, or your brother just fed 5,000 people. Nothing they did measured up to him. And so they were bitter unbelievers. And that might be you, but that something changed. Now, there's another fellow named Joseph of Arimathea. He's a secretive believer. We think he was a believer, but the fruit of his life, he probably wouldn't pass this 10-point test with flying colors. And yet, something changed. And he insisted on taking down the body of the Son of God from the cross. James and Jude, bitter brothers, when we open up the book of Acts, were in Jerusalem. They were praying, and James led the church of Jerusalem. As half-brothers of Jesus Christ, they wrote two books in the New Testament, James and Jude, and they both begin the same way. James, Jude, bondservants of Jesus Christ. They went from bitter brother to bondservant. They went from closeted believer to a believer who was willing to say, kill me, but I want the privilege of taking down the body of the Son of God. What changed? It is the thing that will change you. If you're an unbeliever, it will change you. If you're a secretive believer, It will give you courage and joy. If you're a lacking assurance believer, it will give you assurance. It is the very same thing that changed these men will change you, and it is the cross.

22:44The cross changed them. Before the cross, not believing, they saw the whooping, the beating, the spitting, the taunting, the stripping, the mocking, the nailing of Jesus Christ to the cross, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and they came out of the closet and said, I am one of his, and I bend the knee to my brother because of the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that is what will change your walk today, tomorrow, the next day. How does it do that? We need to remember what the cross is. I would like to suggest to you: there are two lessons of the cross that will forever change you and will ignite your walk and give you the fuel that you need to grow in sanctification and to strive to desire to do better with this 10-point test. Lesson number one of the cross: God hates sin. That's the first message of the cross.

23:45God really hates sin. He's not a boys-will-be-boys type of deity. He's like a clean room who can have no unclean thing in his presence. And because the foundation of his throne, righteousness and justice, he is the God of truth. He is the God of. Holiness. He looks at sin, and they are not little oopses. The one who made the eye, will he not also see? The one who made the ear, does he not also hear? He is beholding everything that is done by every single person on this planet. And his note-taking is extraordinary because he forgets nothing. He sees deep inside of the human heart. And that is why Jesus said, you've heard it said of old, thou shalt not commit adultery. I say, if you look at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart. God goes deep. We're angry at a brother. We're in danger of judgment. John tells us you're a murderer at heart. God is not a justice system where some people kind of get through, you hire a good lawyer, you get off. No. God is the just judge, and he has appointed a day of judgment where he is going to clean house. And the Bible says on that day, Revelation 6, when Jesus Christ, the meek and mild, returns as a mighty warrior on a stallion and a sword coming out of his mouth, blood dripping on his thigh in vengeance to pour out his wrath on everybody who refuses to repent, who practices evil deeds and lives for themselves. People are going to beg the mountains to fall on us. Protect us from the wrath of God. The lamb. Why? God isn't just angry about sin. He's furious. He is furious about it, and he has a cup, and it is filling up with wrath. And on a day he has appointed, it is going to fill up, it is going to spill over, and it is going to be a day unlike any. Noah's people have never seen anything like this. When God judges the world in righteousness, he hates sin. Let me give you some examples. We tend to not preach like this very much these days. He rained fire from heaven on towns that were flagrantly sinful. Consider the high priest. If he were not perfectly clean when he went into the Holy of Holies, he would be struck dead. The high priest. Consider Hosea describing rebellious children as prostitutes. That's how God sees us. Our affection should be toward Him, but they're toward other things so easily, aren't they? Do not be deceived. God hates that. He hates it. Sin is described as dog vomit in the Bible, the ooze from an open wound.

26:43It actually gets worse than that, the stench from an open grave. Consider the lamb sacrifices, the shedding of blood, the perpetual blood flowing to demonstrate we need to have our sins forgiven. Blood must be shed. Consider Acts chapter 2. 12, Herod robbed God of his glory. Herod must be a God, and he didn't deny it. God gave him worms and ended his life. What about Ananias and Sapphira? The New Testament God, just as angry as the Old Testament God, killed them for lying. Consider hell, eternal conscious torment. You see, we have a tendency to think, well, you know, there's some big sins. I haven't done any of those big ones. I've just done the little sins. That's not the issue. It is not the spectacular nature of our sins per se. It is the one against whom we've committed the sins. That's the issue. Think of it like this: if I lie to my son, do you know what happens to me? Nothing. If I lie to my wife, there could be some implications to that decision that involves sleeping on a couch. I lie to my boss, I can get fired. Lie to the government, go to jail for that. Now, I committed the same crime four times, but I had a different punishment. What changed? Not my lie, not my crime. It's the one against whom I committed the crime. The greater the authority, the greater the crime. God created the universe, and he measures it with a span of his hand. When we commit little oopses, they are infinitely offensive, which is why he says all liars, a lie. All liars will have their part in the lake of fire because God hates sin, and that's what we see at the cross: God pouring out his Wrath on his son so that sinners could be forgiven. Because God hates sin. May I ask you, have you taken time lately to consider how much of that sin you have? Have you done inventory lately, thought life, what you're putting your eyes on, what is on your computer screen, gentlemen?

28:55How are you treating your spouse? How are you treating your children? Young people, are you honoring your parents? Are you, Johnny on the spot, do what you told with a cheerful attitude? That is a commandment. And when you violate that commandment, God is not pleased with children who behave like that. He wants you to honor the ones that He has placed over you as your representative to represent Him. And when you fail, He's angry. Mom and Dad, when we fail to represent Him rightly, He's angry at us because He's given us the privilege of demonstrating to our children what He's like. So when I shout at my kids, when I'm cold with my kids, I don't treat them the way that I perhaps treat other adults, He's mad at us. Do you see that our closet just doesn't have a skeleton? It's a graveyard? It's filled with sin, and we can justify it all we want. Others do it. Okay. One criminal pointing to another criminal doesn't get you off. You don't get released from the tell the guard, you know, there's other people who have committed this crime.

30:12As if the guard is going to open up your gate. I didn't think of that. You're good to go. Standing before a judge to say, Judge, you're loving. The judge is going to say, Yes, I am loving. And because I love righteousness and justice and holiness by nature, I must punish you. You see, it is God's love. People tend to think, oh, God is love. God is love. That is a horrifying sentence. Because if God loves what is good and right and pure and holy and just, by nature, he hates things that are not. And his justice and his love commingled demand, you will pay.

30:55There is a crime that has been committed, and there is a punishment that must happen for that crime. You will pay your debts. And the problem is we can't because we've committed our crimes against the infinitely holy God, and that is why hell is eternal conscious torment. And so, if you've been saying, well, hell is just a little bit unreasonable. No, it is not unreasonable. We've rebelled against the king. The Bible says we're haters of God. We shake our fist at God so that we can commit our sins. I don't want you on the throne of my life. I want to reign. That's What our lives are about. Our hearts are idol factories. And you know who the chief idol is? Me.

31:36I love me, some me. I do everything from selfish conceit. I do. I love it. And you love you, so don't. No chuckles from this crowd. I mean, we just, I don't think that we understand how profoundly we love ourselves. And we idolize ourselves. And God is a jealous God. And He wants us to worship Him. And when we don't, please note it well, He is angry. And if you're thinking, I haven't committed as many sins as, say, another guy, or my sins aren't as bad as another guy's, well, that's classic. I think Michael Ross was his name, the roadside killer. It's a paraphrase, but it's pretty close. You think I'm bad because I killed whatever, you know, 17 people.

32:23Are you kidding me? There's some guys here in death row. They've killed like dozens of people. Because this guy thinks he's better because he compares himself to others. And that's not our standard. Our standard by which we will be judged is God Himself. That 10-point test, if nothing else, should have caused us all to say, I can't do this. I need help. The Jews in the Old Testament miss this, law after law after law. And you know what they did? They pulled it. Well, they probably didn't have pants. Whatever it was that they wore back then. They pulled it up and went, We'll do this wrong. Jesus came and he magnified the law with the Sermon on the Mount. You've heard it said of old, but I tell you, and he amped it up. And the hearers shouldn't have gone, all right, let me just take notes on this and get this done. The hearers should have gone, I'm undone. I can't do this. I need a rescuer because God hates sin, and I got a lot of it, and I can't pay for it. And if that is where the message of the cross ends, we are entirely without hope. But there is a second message of the cross: despite the filthy things that we are, God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. That's the second message of the cross. When you understand your debauched nature, that you are a wretched man like I am, and yet while we were yet sinning, God died for us. We should be undone by that. That changes everything.

34:13That changes our emotions. It should change our will. It should break us, and we should flee to him, not because we're afraid of hell. If you've been thinking, well, this is hellfire preaching, whatever you want to call it, do not. Believe in Jesus because you're afraid of hell. Believe in Jesus because he died to save you from hell. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It is only when we really hold up the mirror of God's law, examine ourselves, and we go, what a filthy thing that I am. And he died for me. I want him. I want the best thing there is. And I desire him not because of the gifts, but because I want the one who has been so good to give eternal life to me. That's the heart of the Christian. James and Jude understood that is what the cross accomplished. But the cross accomplished even more, don't you know? You see, if Jesus just took our punishment on our behalf, our sins would be forgiven. But we got a problem. We can't be commended to God. Your bank account, basically, the debt that you have, gets brought to zero. You got nothing in the bank. You got nothing. You're just not guilty. But the perfect life of Jesus Christ, all of these laws, all of these commandments that we've been talking about, never once did he do anything from selfish or empty conceit. He did everything for others first. He always honored mom and dad. Fully righteous, never angry with his brother, never looked with lust, always honored God, loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength, always.

35:54He was never covetous. He never shaded the truth a little bit. Stealing, never. And all of that good. Goodness, he says, it gets credited to you. You will become not just forgiven, but the righteousness of God in Christ. That's our God. That's what the cross does. And if that causes you to go ho and hum, John is profoundly concerned for you. And I would be profoundly concerned for you. That is the single best news any of us can ever hear. And yet, there are some people here who perhaps do not have the joy of the Lord. And I'd like to quickly try to explore and figure out why it is that perhaps you are here, you've heard that message, and perhaps you're this person. I get that. I understand that. But it just, I just, I leave this place and it doesn't seem to like stick with me.

36:56I don't perpetually have it. I mean, in my Christian walk, it's fits and starts. I'm up and I'm down. I'm in and I'm out. And it's just a muddle. I'd like to see if this is maybe one of the reasons. Maybe it's because you never responded rightly to the good news of the gospel. You know, God has demands. Grace is free. But he says that there is a mechanism for you to have your sins forgiven. And it is not by asking Jesus into your heart. Maybe that's the issue for you. Sincerely, it could be the issue. Maybe all you've ever heard is, okay, you're. A sinner. Jesus died for your sins. Now ask him into your heart. And you asked him into your heart. And for a while, maybe he stayed there, but then he seemed to leave. So you asked him back in. Things were a little better, but then he left again. And you've been repeating that cycle potentially for decades. Here's why. Jesus comes and dwells in our hearts. But the question is, how does he get in there? It's not by simply saying, I want you in heart.

37:52Maybe you've made Jesus your Lord and Savior. That sounds better, but here's the reality: Jesus is your Lord and Savior, and you're a rebel. You don't make him anything, you submit to the King. You see, the gospel call is Jesus died for sinners, and now we must respond to that goodness the way that Jesus said in Mark 1:15, repent and believe the gospel. Don't just ask him into your heart. You need to die to yourself. The laws that I've been sharing with you should crush you and cause you to say, I need Jesus. I'm done with me. I want him. I'm going to turn from my wicked ways and follow him. And we know that the Christian doesn't stop sinning forever, but that's our attitude. I don't want these things. And there are people who would say, hey, be careful there, that repentance, that's a work. No, it is not a work. If you were having a heart attack and you fell down on the street and you reached into your pocket and you called 911 and the ambulance came and they put the paddles on, you resuscitated. Nobody's going to say he saved himself.

38:58It was the right response. That's the call for help. And then God saves when we repent and put our trust in Him. Well, we have all kinds of phrases these days in evangelical Christianity: commit to Jesus. Well, that sounds good, but it's not because my fingers are weak and I don't hold on very well. Furthermore, I don't commit to, I need the transaction to be different. I don't make a decision for Jesus. Now, make no mistake about it, you do need to make a decision, but a decision does not save. Saying, I've decided to follow Christ, that decision does not save you. Here's how it works: you want to go golfing. We drove by a beautiful country club on the way here. Now, imagine you put your sticks in the trunk and you'd pull up to the private country club, and you open it up, and the kids come running out, and the manager comes running out to greet you because they don't recognize you. And you say, I just want you to know, I've made a decision to be a member here. And I'm committing to this club. He'd go, hold the phone. You're not teeing off here. You're not a member. Here's how it works: you submit an application. The people in authority are going to take a look at it. And we make a decision about you. That's salvation. When we humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God, here's the good news: He commits to us. Sinner, when we have to commit to Jesus, it's as if we're holding on to His knees, and we know how weak we get. Here's the better news: you humble yourself before His mighty hand. And he commits to you, and he never lets you go. And your faith can't be shaken, and you can't be plucked from his hand, and nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Not the devil, not your parents, not peer pressure, not the thoughts in your head. Nothing. When we repent and put our trust in Jesus Christ, and somebody would say, well, that's a work. Well, no, it's not. Not sinning is not a work any more than you driving down the road, the freeway, doing 55, and the speed limit says 55. Have you ever been pulled over? And the officer said, I want to give you some money. You're obeying the law. You weren't speeding. Well, no, no, you're just doing what you're supposed to do. That's repentance. You stop. If you and I were going to go on a road trip, and I said, I'll tell you what, I know a place that's going to, does it get icy? I know that in the winter, because I went on a skating rink once driving through Texas. And you really need to discover sand. It really does a lot when you're driving on this stuff. And I said, hey, let's drive to Mexico for the winter. It's going to stay nice and warm. No snow there. I've been there. Let's go. We get into my car, start driving, and a few hours go by. You're not thinking much. But then 15, 20 hours go by, and you're thinking, you know, I know Texas is big, but we should be seeing some signs. And sure enough, about 20 hours into it, you start seeing some signs, and you start seeing pine trees, not palm trees. You notice the temperature on the bank sign is going down, and then you see a sign that says Canada, 142 degrees. Miles. You know, I'm taking you in the wrong direction. Think this through. Don't answer this quickly. What do you want me to do? Think it through methodically. First of all, when you show me the signs that I'm going in the wrong direction, you want me to agree with you. You're right. I'm wrong. What do you want me to do now? Just agree with you and keep driving to Canada? No. You'd like me to stop. But there we are on the side of the road. I suspect while we're there, you would like some sort of an apology. But you don't want to sit on the side of the road. You want me to turn around. But you don't want me to just be pointing in the right direction. You want me to go and start driving in the right direction. And you don't want me to stop until we get to our destination. That is repentance. Have you repented? Is that maybe your malady? Maybe, parents, you went through the thing and you asked Jesus into your heart. You committed, you signed a card, you walked forward, you just believe.

42:54It's by faith alone. There's no question about that. But it's a repentant faith. We turn from the things we once loved to the one we once hated with a new attitude, new desires, new will. We don't accept Jesus. We need His acceptance. And He grants it when we repent and put our trust in Him. So, may I ask, is it potentially your problem in your Christian walk because you've never repented and put your trust in Him?

43:27That is the response to the gospel, and we must. Come with a right motive, seeking the one who died for us. However, let's close with this. I suspect there are now two other groups of people in this body where the Bible is even taught. You, maybe, don't think you need this forgiveness. You are like Naaman. Do you remember the story of Naaman? Naaman from 2 Kings 5. Naaman is the king of Aaron, the captain of the guard in Aram, northern and slightly eastern of Israel. And he was a successful warrior. He had a skin problem, probably leprosy. And he heard about this prophet who lived down south. And he heard that this fellow could heal him. And so Naaman said, pack up my stuff. Let's go see that Elisha the prophet. So he gets onto his horse with all of his goods to bring some sort of a gift. And they pull up to Elisha's place. He doesn't get off of his high horse. He tells his servants to go in and tell him that he has arrived. And Elisha doesn't leave the house. He tells the servants, you better tell your master to get off of his high horse. And I want him to go down to that dirty river, bob up and down seven times, and then he'll be healed. They bring the message back to Naaman, and he's like, not a chance. We've got better rivers where I come from. I brought stuff to pay for my cleansing. And his servants said, don't be foolish. If he had told you to do something, You would have done it. Do you see how that gets to the human heart? We're going to do something. Don't give me this grace business. I don't need your forgiveness offer. You tell me what to do. That's Naaman. And he humbled himself. And only then, when he got off of his high horse, he went down into the river, bobbed up and down seven times. And the Bible says his skin was like that of a child. Why? You cannot buy God's grace. Your good works, I'm sorry, they reek. And they are not going to satisfy the justice and the judgment of God. Instead, he offers to you this day a Savior, Jesus Christ. Run to him. Look to him. Forsake your self-righteousness and put your trust in him and his righteousness. And he says that he'll adopt you as his child. But if you do not humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, he will not exalt you, he will crush you. Look, if anybody knows about pride in this building, it is I. We've got to come low before the king. And if you're thinking, okay, this is a threatening message, yes, it is a threatening message. There is a threat that is hanging over our head. But don't you hear the offer of God's kindness?

46:15The threat, I've carried it out on my son so that you could be forgiven. If that doesn't move your stony heart and turn it into a heart of flesh, nothing will. Who has loved you more, my Naaman-like friend? Who has done more for you than Jesus Christ, the God-man who really lived, who really died, who really rose again. What do you need? A better offer? There's not a better offer. Today is the day of salvation. How do you get off of your high horse? You don't need to get off of your chair. You need to call out to God right now, this second. And if he says, if you come unto me, I will not cast you out. Today is the day of salvation. Walk out this building at your own peril, my friends. We all feel death with us in this place today. Who has promised another day?

47:08Clay would warn you: don't delay. Don't let this fall on your ears and just, I can't wait to get out of this place. I need to get, well, it'll be done soon. Today, God offers you life and life more abundant. Why would you delay? There's a second group of people in this place today, and you think that you do not qualify for this forgiveness. Well, in a sense, none of us do, do we? None of us do, but you're special because you think that God forgives a lot, but not me.

47:54You look back on your life, and you know the things that you have done, and you think in your Head, this salvation offer might be for others, but not for me. Can I just tell you today, my friend, come to Jesus. Your sin is not bigger than salvation. Your dirtiness is not too much for him to clean up. In fact, the dirtier you are, the more glory he receives for saving dirty people. So, may I ask you, have you hesitated?

48:28Maybe you're the type of person who just, you're kind of a backrow Christian in that, yeah, I'm forgiven, but there's that thing that I've done, the skeletons, the sins of your youth, the sexual sins. Maybe that's you, and you think, God won't forgive that. I did some very dirty things. Come, you sinner, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, full of love, full of power. Are you a dirty person? Congratulations. You're the one Jesus wants because Jesus flips the line around. The world says, we want the high, we want the rich, we want the mighty, we want the popular, we want the pretty. And Jesus says, that's not what I want. I want the brokenheart and contrite spirit. And so if you think that you're too dirty to be saved, you're exactly in the right place to be saved. What did you do in the past? Your sin isn't mightier than Jesus. His death on the cross paid it all. Have you committed adultery? Jesus will forgive you. Jesus will forgive you.

49:37Did you struggle with same-sex attraction? And you think, oh, I've heard so much about that from the church. I can't find an asterisk in the Bible where it says that Jesus won't forgive a homosexual. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 6, it lists homosexuals, such were some of you. Look, this church is not a collection of the pretty perfect people. This is a big mess sitting right here. All of us. And Jesus says, and this is my bride. These are the ones that I love. I love the orphan. Maybe you're adopted and you think, well, you know what? I've just, I don't get this love. I'm telling you, God loves you, and He loves you as much as He loves the Son when you are in the Son. And you can have that love lavished on you when you are hidden in Christ. You're not too bad. Maybe you think I'm too poor. I'm too sickly. I can't serve. I can't do. I've done things. Have you had an abortion? I suspect in a body this size, somebody has, and you have been harboring this for so long, and it haunts you. Can I tell you two things?

50:48Your baby's waiting for you in heaven. I'm just telling you. The Bible screams it. I don't think it's subtle at all. God loves the little children, and He takes them to be with Him safely in the arms of Jesus. And he wants you to be forgiven, to know that joy, and to join your baby in heaven. Abortion, it's a terrible sin, but Jesus is an amazing Savior. Jesus, this is so, he saves pedophiles. Jesus saves Wall Street fat cats. Jesus saves prostitutes. Jesus saves murderers. I've had somebody say to me, Shmuly Boteik, the rabbi, you're telling me that if this Jesus would forgive somebody like Adolf Hitler, if all he did is repent and trust, and I said, Exactly, Shmuly, because he's greater than Adolf's Hitler's sins. You're not too dirty. What have you done? Jesus will forgive you. Just come, you sinners, poor and needy, weak. Does that sound like you? Wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power.

52:03Today is the day of salvation. If you've never repented and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, why would you delay, my friend? Why would you delay? What more do you need to hear? And so I suspect, I'm just guessing, that you're going to come up and talk for a minute, and maybe they're going to sing some worship songs. I'm not going to ask you to walk up here. That doesn't get you saved. And we're not going to pass out cards. We're not going to take your name. I'm going to ask you right now, in the quietness of your own heart, to repent and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a joyous day this would be. You'll look back on this day for the rest of your life because it'll be a day that will last for eternity. Come, you sinners. The offer is in front of you right now. Who will partake?

52:57Let's pray. Our Father, there are not some people here who need Jesus. We all need your Son. And you have given us your Son, and in Him you have given us all things. And you are willing to lavish life, forgiveness, mercy, righteousness, adoption to anybody who repents and puts their trust in Him. And so we thank you. For those of us who are in Christ, we thank you for so great a salvation. And we beg you, for those people who are here, that you would grind up their stony heart, give them a heart of flesh so that they can worship you for all of eternity for being such an amazing God to save rebellious sinners like us. Would you please do that work? Grant repentance and faith this moment to many. To women, to children, because you are mighty to save, and we will praise you forever. Please do that work now in our midst. In the name of Christ, the Savior. Amen.